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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoAlex Holt | DispatchOhio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis says it was easier for he and his wife, Amy, to adopt their daughter, Olivia, in Guatemala than it was to adopt their son, Isaac, in Cleveland.

Wait times could be slashed to 60 days from a year and Ohioans would get thousands more in tax
credits under a new proposal to make it easier to adopt in the Buckeye State.

The plan, designed to lower costs that can range from $20,000 to $40,000 in Ohio, is expected to
be introduced soon in the state Senate.

It’s part of Ohio Right to Life’s shift in focus to improving the adoption process after winning
passage of several bills limiting abortion in Ohio.

“We’re trying to make adoptions better, cheaper and faster,” said Michael Gonidakis, president
of the state’s leading anti-abortion organization and the father of two adopted children.

The effort comes just months after abortion-rights foes celebrated passage of sweeping
anti-abortion provisions, which drew sharp debate from a divided General Assembly.

Lawmakers approved a $62 billion state budget that requires doctors performing abortions to
first conduct an ultrasound, and, if a heartbeat is detected, to tell the woman and explain the
probability of carrying the fetus to full term.

“We have made a significant impact, abortion clinics are closing ... in our evolution, we
believe the next step is adoption,” Gonidakis said. “More adoptions will lead to less abortions.
More women will see opportunities to have their child and keep their child or place their child for
adoption.”

Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springsboro, said she intends to introduce legislation centered on
expanding a state tax credit for adoptive families in the coming weeks after collecting feedback
from adoption-advocacy groups.

“I’m looking for opportunities to streamline the process and provide some relief to families
that want to adopt,” Jones said.

The proposal being discussed would increase the tax credit to $10,000, up from $1,500, and allow
the benefit to be spread over four years. The state credit, and an existing $12,000 federal tax
credit, would offset a good portion of adoption costs.

In addition, payments of up to $3,000 which adoptive parents can provide to pregnant mothers for
living expenses would no longer directly go to the mother. Instead, adoption agencies or attorneys
would hold the funds and make payments to service providers such as landlords, doctors and utility
companies.

The intent is to prevent further instances of fraud in which some birth mothers collect payments
from multiple sets of adoptive parents or use the money to buy drugs or for other illegitimate
purposes.

Another provision would shorten the adoption process. Adoption decrees could be finalized 60
days after a birth instead of 12 months. The move would shorten the time biological fathers have to
put their name on the state’s putative father registry from 30 days after the birth of a child to
seven. Fathers who register sometimes are seeking to claim a child and block an adoption.

In an effort to give biological fathers more time to consider their options, the proposal would
require an agency or attorney representing a birth mother who decides during pregnancy to place her
child for adoption to notify the biological father.

There would be no change to current law, which allows a birth mother who consents to adoption to
change her mind within 72 hours of her child’s birth.

“We’ve adopted two children, domestically and internationally, and what we’ve noticed, my wife
and I, it was actually easier to adopt in Guatemala than to adopt our son from Cleveland,”
Gonidakis said.

“In Ohio, adoption is too expensive, too bureaucratic, inefficient at best, and there is too
much hardship and heartache in the process.”